


Knowing Peace

by demishock



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, IgNoct, Ignoct Week, because it's for ignoct week, but they're just kids in this one, ignoct weekend, ignoctweek, ignoctweekend, ignoctwritingweekend, non-game character death, pre-game, tagged with the pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 09:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14891681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demishock/pseuds/demishock
Summary: Ignis is fourteen when his aunt dies, and for the first time, Noctis finds himself in the unfamiliar position of knowing more about something than Ignis does.





	Knowing Peace

**Author's Note:**

> This sure is a thing that happened. In present tense. For some reason.
> 
> I've been thinking a lot lately about Ignis's family, which we know basically nothing about, ever since Tabata (apparently) mentioned that his parents were alive at the time of Insomnia's fall. That's not what this is about, but it was in the back of my mind while I was working on it.
> 
> Thanks go to eveshka for the little bit of backstory about Ignis's aunt serving the queen!
> 
> Written for the combined prompts for ignoct writing weekend day 2 - Place: Citadel, and Object: Pressed Flowers

Ignis is fourteen when his aunt dies, and for the first time, Noctis finds himself in the unfamiliar position of knowing more about something than Ignis does.

Noctis knows about loss. He lost his mother before he even got to know her. He lost his governess and the guards who had been escorting them home the night of the Marilith attack. He lost Oracle Sylva, who had risked the safety and freedom of her entire nation in order to heal him.

Noctis knows about loss, and so he knows that he has to help Ignis, the same way Ignis always tries so hard to help Noctis.

He wonders if he looked the way Ignis looks now: sad, and helpless, and… well… _lost_.

Noctis knew Ignis's aunt, and he feels her absence, too, although not as keenly as Ignis. She had served Noctis's mother before the queen had passed, and had held a place of distinction among the Citadel staff even afterward. The king himself is attending the service out of respect for her and all of House Scientia, and so Noctis is allowed to come, too. 

Ignis's aunt had always been nice to Noctis when they crossed paths, and not in the way some people are nice to him just because he's royalty. Noctis can tell the difference, and he'd always appreciated that about her. Ignis's uncle is the same way, but he's too sad and too surrounded by other people to pay Noctis much attention at the moment, and Noctis knows about that, too. Ignis's aunt was his uncle's wife, so he's the one hurting the most.

Ignis is hurting too, though, and Noctis keeps an eye on him as best he can amidst the throng of mourners. His dad keeps stopping to offer his condolences to people, and Noctis knows better than to get separated from him in a place like this. Even so, it's hard not to just run headlong through the crowd to be at Ignis's side.

They eventually make it to where Ignis is standing with his parents, near the front of the room. They're both rather severe-looking people, and Noctis is a little frightened of them, if he's being honest, even though he's the prince and they have to be polite to him. He thinks Ignis might be frightened of them, too, by the way that he stands at attention when he talks to them, all stiff and formal and not at all like how Noctis is with his own dad. Noctis has only met them a couple of times before, because unlike Ignis, they don't live at the Citadel.

Ignis doesn't like to talk about it, so Noctis doesn't ask.

Now that they're together, Noctis wants to grab Ignis's hand, but he knows from his etiquette lessons that it wouldn't be appropriate here. He almost does it anyway, except that he knows how Ignis feels about etiquette, and Noctis doesn't want to make this worse for him.

Instead, he stands _really_ close to Ignis's side while his parents thank him and King Regis for doing them the honor of attending.

Too soon, they become separated as others come to pay their respects. Noctis catches Ignis's eye as his dad ushers him away, hoping that Ignis understands his unspoken promise to come see him later, when this is all over.

Ignis gives him a tiny nod, and then Noctis loses sight of him.

\---

Noctis seeks him out again as soon as they're back at the Citadel, once the services are over with. He finds him sitting in silence atop his bed, staring at nothing.

This time, Noctis does grab Ignis's hand, which snaps him out of it long enough to spare Noctis a glance. There are white spots on his glasses, and his eyes are red, and Noctis knows he's been crying, here in private.

"I'm really sorry, Iggy," Noctis says, and he _means_ it. He knows how much this hurts. He wishes Ignis had gone on not knowing.

"I know, Noct. Thank you," Ignis says, and he sounds mostly like he usually does, but Noctis knows better. He hears the tiny waver in Ignis's voice, and without waiting for an invitation, he clambers into the bed to lean against Ignis's shoulder, hands still clasped together as he tries as hard as he can to let Ignis know that _he's here_.

Ignis's shoulder shakes against his, and Noctis doesn't say anything, because he knows there's nothing anyone can say right now that will help.

He stays until they both fall asleep.

\---

A few days pass, and Ignis is as dutiful as ever. Sadness doesn't seem to have the same effect on him as it has on Noctis - it doesn't keep him from going about his business as usual, even if he is a little more subdued about it. The other Citadel staff comment on it in hushed tones that Noctis hears anyway, praising Ignis for how mature he's being and how well he's handling himself.

Noctis knows he's still hurting, though, because he knows Ignis better than anyone. He recognizes it in the way he doesn't pester Noctis about decorum as much, and the way he hasn't told any jokes lately, and the way that he picks at his food before he forces himself to eat it.

There's also a vacancy in his expression that wasn't there before, and Noctis knows all about that part of grief, too - about staring silently at, into, and through things as though, if he stares hard enough, the world might suddenly right itself while he isn't looking. As though paying attention and being present makes the pain more real.

Ignis still looks at Noctis, though. He still sees him. Noctis tries to be on his best behavior - to show Ignis that he's okay, so that Ignis has one less thing to be sad about.

He encourages Ignis to do all his favorite things - to read, try new foods, look at the stars, play the piano - like he does for Noctis whenever Noctis is miserable. Noctis knows that those things don't actually help the sadness go away, but he knows that he always appreciates that Ignis _tries_ , and he's determined to support Ignis the same way.

He offers to loan Ignis his Carbuncle charm, to ward off the worst of it - the nightmares that come when he's asleep and defenseless. Ignis resists the offer at first, but eventually accepts, because he's never really been good at saying 'no' to Noctis. Within a week, Noctis is sure that the darkness under Ignis's eyes has gotten a little lighter.

\---

One afternoon after school, Noctis finishes his homework earlier than usual and goes looking for Ignis to see how he's doing. He finds him in the Citadel garden, sitting on a rock and staring at-into-through the flowers.

Ignis blinks slowly at Noctis as he realizes he's no longer alone.

"Apologies," he says automatically once he’s returned to himself, and Noctis shrugs.

"You okay?" he asks, even though he already knows.

"She spent a lot of time here," Ignis says instead of answering outright. "I thought I might pick some of her favorites and put them in my room, but…"

He sighs.

"Changed your mind?" Noctis tries.

"Realized the futility of it," Ignis corrects. "They won't last. Better to just come look at them here, I suppose."

Noctis considers his friend, and the flowers, and his own experience, and he has an idea.

"What if they _will_ last?" Noctis asks. At Ignis's skeptical look, he explains, "When I was in Tenebrae, Luna showed me how to… uh… you kind of squish them, and it dries them out so you can keep them forever."

It sounded nicer in his head, but that's the best Noctis can do. Ignis looks thoughtful, and Noctis knows he got the gist of it.

"Pressed flowers…" Ignis muses aloud.

He thinks about it for a little while, and Noctis tries not to fidget while he waits beside him.

"That might be nice," Ignis says finally. "Do you remember how you did it?"

Noctis nods vigorously.

"You stay here and pick the ones you want, and I'll go get the other stuff," Noctis says. "Be right back!"

He darts to his chambers as fast as he can and gathers up the things Luna had shown him: a few sheets of paper and the scissors from his art supplies, a pair of tweezers from the bathroom, and a thick old book that he's never going to read.

He's a little slower in returning with them, since he knows Ignis will get upset if he finds out Noctis was running with scissors. When he arrives back at the garden, Ignis is waiting with a small pile of blossoms at the ready.

Feeling good about being the knowledgeable one for a change, Noctis shows Ignis how to cut the flowers so that they'll lay flat on the paper. Ignis asks for his advice on how to arrange them so they'll look their best, and Noctis is happy to help. They fit as many of his aunt's favorites on the page as they can, and then, very carefully, they lay another sheet of paper on top and fit the sandwiched flowers into the spine of Noctis's book.

"Now we just gotta put something heavy on top and leave them for a couple weeks," Noctis says, and Ignis nods in understanding. They gather up everything and carry it back inside together, and they put the book with the flowers on Ignis's desk. They stack a pile of other books on top of it, and Noctis is relieved to see that Ignis looks a lot more focused than he had before.

\---

Two weeks later, it's the moment of truth.

Noctis stands back while Ignis does the honors, carefully unstacking their pile of books and opening up to the page where they'd tucked the flowers away like an oversized bookmark.

When he sees how well they turned out, Ignis's eyes look brighter than Noctis has seen them in weeks, and he feels so proud it's almost embarrassing. Seeing Ignis look like himself again is the best thing in the world.

They spend the rest of that afternoon in companionable silence, concentrating as they carefully glue the dried blossoms to a fancier sheet of paper that Noctis had found in his dad's office.

Once they've used up all the flowers, Noctis holds out the most important item that he's procured to finish their project with: something called contact paper, which Luna had sent to him via Umbra when he'd written to her for advice earlier in the week.

At Ignis's suggestion, they practice with it a few times on a piece of scrap paper, which turns out to be a good idea, because it's trickier than Luna made it sound. Their first few attempts have lots of air bubbles, but eventually they start to get the hang of it.

They stand over the flowers together, hesitating.

Ignis hands the roll of contact paper to Noctis.

"Would you mind…?"

He trails off, and Noctis suddenly feels nervous.

"What if I mess it up?" he asks.

"You won't," Ignis says, as if it's just a fact, like 'the sky is blue' and 'water is wet.' He points to their practice papers, and Noctis has to admit: his are a little less bubbly than Ignis's. "I trust you, Noct."

Noctis accepts the paper, peels off the backing, and takes a deep breath, hovering over the flowers with it.

He knows he’s got to get this right. For Ignis.

He presses down as fast as he can, smoothing the sticky side over the flowers from the middle, outward, until it reaches the edges of the page. He grabs the scissors and trims the edges back, then holds it up so he and Ignis can inspect it.

Noctis is surprised to see that it actually looks pretty nice.

He looks up at Ignis and nearly drops the whole thing, because Ignis is _smiling_ , and Noctis was wrong before - _that's_ the best thing in the world.

Lost for words, he hands the paper over, and Ignis takes it gently, cradling it between his hands as he looks it over again.

"Thank you, Noct. This is a lovely tribute. Shall we show it to my uncle?"

Noctis finds he still can't speak, so he just nods and follows Ignis from the room, content with the knowledge that Ignis is healing, and that he will be here to help for as long as it takes.


End file.
